UM’s ‘nicest’ and ‘meanest’ safety also among most targeting-prone players in America
University of Miami coaches to a man love Amari Carter.
He’s the affable, reflective, respectful young man who was named one of four team captains before the season.
He’s also a hard-hitting terror — in more ways than one.
When Carter got penalized and ejected for targeting for the fourth time since last season on UM’s first defensive play of the game against Virginia, you could almost hear the collective groan of Canes fans around the nation. Carter also was ejected for targeting in the first half against Clemson and was called for targeting twice earlier this season before officials reviewed the plays and overturned their decisions.
By now, coaches — in a bye week as the No. 12 Canes (5-1, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) prepare for North Carolina State — must wince when Carter goes to make a tackle.
“We don’t have a better person on our team than Amari Carter, but obviously he’s going to have to make some changes to the way he plays,’’ UM coach Manny Diaz said on WQAM earlier this week.
Targeting rule
According to the NCAA, targeting is when a player “takes aim at an opponent for the purposes of attacking with forcible contact with the crown of the helmet.’’ Nuances of the rule include the person getting hit being “defenseless.’’ It often is a helmet-to-helmet hit.
Players called for targeting must sit out that half and the next half, even if the next half turns out to be in the next game. As of 2019, players who commit three targeting fouls in the same season are subject to a one-game suspension.
Diaz and safeties coach Ephraim Banda, who spoke about it Wednesday, believe targeting penalties should not uniformly trigger automatic ejections and should be labeled Targeting 1 and Targeting 2, similar to how the NBA designates flagrant fouls, with the more serious fouls resulting in ejection.
Diaz said that Carter, with his physical style, “would have been All-American 20 years ago. He’s not trying to hurt anyone. He’s playing a brand of football we all fell in love with [years ago]... That play [against Virginia] was particularly tough because the offensive player is in such a small, crouching position with the crown of his head exposed as well.
‘Got to have Amari’
“Look, these are the rules of the game right now. We’ve got to have Amari in the lineup. What we had to go through at the safety position [without Carter] on Saturday was really, really difficult. I’ve got to single out [that] a guy like [safety] Gurvan Hall playing on almost one leg was almost heroic Saturday in the second half. He got taped up [after hurting his ankle] and just gutted it out.’’
Carter, 6-0 and 200 pounds, grew up in Riviera Beach and graduated from Palm Beach Gardens High. Former UM coach Mark Richt called him “the nicest kid in America’’ but “maybe the meanest player on the field when it comes to stroking somebody.’’
“Football is a physical game. It’s about hitting people and driving through people and he does that in a really spectacular way,’’ Richt said.
This season, Carter is second on the team with 22 tackles. He also recovered a fumble.
In late September before the Florida State game, Carter spoke about his brand of tackling.
Carter’s view
“One of the biggest things that the coaches tell me is make sure when you’re going up striking it’s in an area that will take out that question [of targeting],’’ Carter said. “Some plays it’s just a bang-bang play and it’s just sort of fast and it happens.
“We play football so things happen. There are going to be hits like that. The biggest thing I can do is make sure I’m trying to keep myself safe and also the other person just [by] not ducking my head and not aiming at their head, which I never try to do. It’s always trying to aim below the breast plate and lower.”
When Carter was asked if when he delivers big hits he’s trying to intimidate opponents so that they will worry about him, he said, ”Nah, not at all. I’ll be out there just trying to do my job and help the team get a win and have a good time.”
Every week, Banda leads drills that center on tackling low. “Personally, I know we are working really, really hard at targeting and the strike zone. We are a shoulder-leverage tackling team that is aimed at attacking the thigh board of a man. In our tackling, there is nothing above the waistline how we teach it. It’s definitely been a challenge for us and for Amari.’’
Banda in defense
Last week, for example, Virginia slot receiver and Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas alum Tavares Kelly, only 5-8 and 160 pounds, was the player targeted by Carter. “I remember the young man coming out of St. Thomas,’’ Banda said. “He catches the ball and he ducks. It’s really hard to officiate... When a receiver catches the ball who is 5-8 and then ducks, how do you make a human being respond that fast? We could be better, I agree — our head could be up, our eyes could be higher on that play... Personally, I feel it shouldn’t warrant a young man being thrown out if it’s not [malicious].
“I know Amari Carter is a good young man. He is not maliciously trying to do that... But the rule is the rule. We’re going to continue to improve and work on it. I know it’s hard on the officials. They struggle with it, too.’’
Banda also hopes officiating in the future will be more cognizant of trying to “protect the defensive college player’s brains’’ as much as “the offensive player’s brain.’’
So, knowing Carter’s history, how can coaches help him not be fearful now when he makes a tackle?
“You’ve got to put a lot of emphasis and focus into your technique and trust it to remove the fear of whatever you’re doing,’’ Banda said. “For Amari, it’s continuing to stress attacking as low as we can, even on a 5-7, 5-8 receiver, and keeping our eyes up — and not being gun-shy.
“It is what it is. It’s the game. It’s the situation. You’ve got to continue to play the game as hard as you can and just play the cards you’re dealt.’’
This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 3:44 PM.
